The typical pack or backpack, sometimes called a knapsack or rucksack, is a fabric bag or case designed for carrying equipment or supplies on the back. It usually contains one or more fabric compartments and may or may not be associated with a metal frame with straps designed to hold the pack upon the back of the user.
Typically, the weight of the pack is transferred to the backpacker by straps which go above, and then in front of, the shoulders and are then connected at or near the front bottom panel of the backpack. The weight, thus concentrated on the back and shoulders requires a backpacker to bend forward to compensate for the unnatural disbribution of weight. The concentration of pressure at the shoulders caused by the weight usually produces pressure points often causing soreness in that region of the body.
In addition, because of the position of the pack on the user's back, access to the contents of a pack while the pack is in place is difficult. In order to gain access to the pack, the pack usually has to be taken off or another person is required to gain access to the pack when on the backpacker.
The distance the weight in a pack is from the body determines the stress produced by the weight on the body since the farther the weight is carried from the body, the more the body must strain or compensate by bending in the opposite direction. The typical pack provides little or no protection from the elements.
Hunting and fishing vests are known with load carrying fabric compartments in the front breast flaps and in the lower back part. The typical load carrying vest, however, bears a much smaller capacity for loads than a backpack. A back loaded vest will creep down the back of the user thereby pulling the front breast flaps upward making an unsatisfactory load carrying device.
Accordingly, an object of my invention is to provide a vest with cargo carrying features having a waist level belt and buckle means in order to keep the vest from creeping and to constrain the weight close to the body.
Another object of my invention is to provide a vest with cargo carrying features having a self-contained backside protector which will protect the backside of the user whenever seated.
Additional objects of my invention will be obvious from a reading of the specification and the drawings.
A further object of my invention is to provide a load carrying vest which balances the load on the front and back of the user and which, by its construction, provides enhanced weight distribution to the shoulders, back, and waist of the user when loaded with cargo.